Better Engagement, Better Processes

In addition to my platform and policy priorities, I’m also working to do something much bigger and deeper on our City Council - and that’s to change the way our city engages with its residents. Saint Paul does better when we have better, more inclusive engagement and more representative neighborhood processes. I ran for City Council to bring everybody to the table, including and especially people who have been traditionally left out of government. I’m running for a full term so I can continue working to open our city up for all.

I WILL KEEP WORKING HARD TO ACHIEVE BETTER ENGAGEMENT AND A MORE OPEN CITY:

Convening a City Government & Civics 101 forum in 2019 to demystify who “the city” is, what every sub-part of city government does, how you can use your voice and take advantage of community processes like district councils

Advocating for the creation of a central “311”-style phone line everyone in Saint Paul can use to get help on city services and issues, instead of a dozen different numbers that bounce you around to different departments

“Bring City Hall to you”: continuing as a Ward 4 office to hold more neighborhood meetings on more topics around the Ward, including the ones you suggest

District council reform: supporting an increase of funding for district councils tied to requirements and supports for achieving more representation so that our neighborhood planning processes involve all in the neighborhood

Promoting citywide use of the equitable development scorecard in planning at the district council level as one tool for more community-informed development

Serving as the official co-chair of the Ramsey County 2020 Census collection effort, which is responsible for the full census count of everyone in Ramsey County so that billions of dollars in federal investment can continue to reach our communities and local policies that use census data can be shaped for all

Have brought back regular Ward 4 office hours hosted around the Ward bi-monthly or more frequently, alongside a full team offering constituent services and support at the city regularly

YOUR IDEAS GO HERE: I’m listening. It’s going to take all of us to engage all of us. I can’t wait to keep working with you to make sure no one’s left behind.

Mitra Jalali Nelson for ward 4

I'm running to be a leader for progress that brings all of us along. Learn more >